Dan Collins: Ghost Cities in China Disappearing

[beijingwalker]

Dan Collins: Ghost Cities in China Disappearing

 

[C130]

I'm not going to watch that whole thing, but please tell me the ghost cities are for the retiring elderly. this is what I have always assumed when I first heard about the ghost cities. they gotta be retirement cities

 

[AndrewJin]

Any new district at the first one year or two years is a "ghost" city.
@StarCraft_ZT Zhengzhou's huge "ghost" city for instance....

 

[beijingwalker]

I'm not going to watch that whole thing, but please tell me the ghost cities are for the retiring elderly. this is what I have always assumed when I first heard about the ghost cities. they gotta be retirement cities

They are just new cities just being built. What US main stream media can never get is that China builds a new city in 6 months so what they see from the satellite is that ghost cities are everywhere in China.

 

[C130]

They are just new cities just being built. What US main stream media can never get is that China builds a new city in 6 months so what they see from the satellite is that ghost cities are everywhere in China.

yeah, but with China's 1 child law and the aging population...you are going to be having millions if not tens of millions old people retiring every year in the next few decades. where will they go?? wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to put them all in single city to be taken care??

Population Pyramid of China in 2030

 

[beijingwalker]

China used more concrete in 3 years than the US in 100 years

Bill Gates has an incredible statistic: According the USGS' cement statistics, China has used more concrete from 2011 to 2013 (6.6 gigatons) than the United States in the entire 20th century (4.5 gigatons). It blows one's mind but, then again, as Gates point out, look at Shanghai's evolution...

...and now imagine this happening in every city in China, from Beijing to Zhengzhou.

yeah, but with China's 1 child law and the aging population...you are going to be having millions if not tens of millions old people retiring every year in the next few decades. where will they go?? wouldn't be easier to put them all in a city to be taken care??

There is a huge cultural difference on that between China and US. Old people live with and being taken care of by their children in China. parents children bond is much much stronger in Chinese culture than that of US.

 

[C130]

China used more concrete in 3 years than the US in 100 years

Bill Gates has an incredible statistic: According the USGS' cement statistics, China has used more concrete from 2011 to 2013 (6.6 gigatons) than the United States in the entire 20th century (4.5 gigatons). It blows one's mind but, then again, as Gates point out, look at Shanghai's evolution...

...and now imagine this happening in every city in China, from Beijing to Zhengzhou.

There is a huge cultural difference on that between China and US. Old people live with and being taken care of by their children in China. parents children bond is much much stronger in Chinese culture than that of US.

question is can a one child policy child handle taking care of so many elderly. that's a lot of burden for a only child. back in the day that might of been feasible but in the future...eeh you gotta wonder.

 

[AndrewJin]

China used more concrete in 3 years than the US in 100 years

Bill Gates has an incredible statistic: According the USGS' cement statistics, China has used more concrete from 2011 to 2013 (6.6 gigatons) than the United States in the entire 20th century (4.5 gigatons). It blows one's mind but, then again, as Gates point out, look at Shanghai's evolution...

...and now imagine this happening in every city in China, from Beijing to Zhengzhou.

There is a huge cultural difference on that between China and US. Old people live with and being taken care of by

question is can a old child policy child handle taking care of so many elderly. that's a lot of burden for a only child. back in the day that might of been feasible but in the future...eeh you gotta wonder.

Think about our national habit: saving money.
Even a poor family in the countryside has a large saving.

 

[beijingwalker]

question is can a old child policy child handle taking care of so many elderly. that's a lot of burden for a only child. back in the day that might of been feasible but in the future...eeh you gotta wonder.

You have a point here, but also should be noted that one child policy only implemented in the cities but most people back then lived in rural regions. we will wait and see what future plays out for the cities dwellers, hopefully by then the country would be rich enough to handle that problem. Japan has the same problem and their situation is even worse cause the country has a much smaller population. but I think they are getting by ok.

 

[C130]

Think about our national habit: saving money.
Even a poor family in the countryside has a large saving.

what you said about U.S isn't entirely true. we take of our parents as well. not like we all send them off into a retirement home.

we'll see in the coming decades how China and it's children deal with the aging population along with Japan.

 

[beijingwalker]

A rich China in the future may open doors to immigrant workers since China is surrounded by poor countries ,but I don't know if the government would be willing to do it or not.

 

[hans]

Right now only 50% of Chinese people living in cities..
With industrialization more and more people will move to cities..
The country side villages will be empty and these new cities will be full..

I'm not going to watch that whole thing, but please tell me the ghost cities are for the retiring elderly. this is what I have always assumed when I first heard about the ghost cities. they gotta be retirement cities

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

I have been to China recently. In important arterial roads I see youths standing here and there, blocking cars and giving some papers. When I asked my friend what was it, he told me they are selling homes.

I was shocked . Do they have so many homes in China, does the youths are paid to distribute copies of the ad in every major road junction? He told yes, and there are many homes, and the rates are pretty cheap as they are much more than demand.

 

[AndrewJin]

I have been to China recently. In important arterial roads I see youths standing here and there, blocking cars and giving some papers. When I asked my friend what was it, he told me they are selling homes.

I was shocked . Do they have so many homes in China, does the youths are paid to distribute copies of the ad in every major road junction? He told yes, and there are many homes, and the rates are pretty cheap as they are much more than demand.

Why haven't I been given ad in Every major road junction but only seen the prices going up and up in Yangtze River Delta driven by the need of new city dwellers and urbanisation?

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

Why haven't I been given ad in Every major road junction but only seen the prices going up and up in Yangtze River Delta driven by the need of new city dwellers and urbanisation?

I dont know. But I was stopped nearly twice during my travel from Kunshan to Hyonquing (thats the name I think) and nearly 3 times during my travel from Kunshan to Shanghai by road. They dont stop arbitarily though. Mostly in signals I received it. I didnt see any ghost city myself. But thats what my Chinese colleague told me.

Naturally prices in Shanghai or Suzhou will never get less. Not sure about other cities